Body Image, Eating Disorders and Obesity in Youth: Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment examines the relationship between body image disturbances and eating disorders in our most vulnerable population: children and adolescents. Volume editors J. Kevin Thompson and Linda Smolak present a dynamic approach that combines current research, assessment techniques, and suggestions for treatment and prevention. Contributing authors offer techniques for treating obesity and eating disorders in children, point to possible sources of these disorders, map out the subtleties of working with youth of diverse ethnicities, and elucidate the connections between sexual abuse and body image. This volume delivers valuable direction for researchers in the field as well as solid guidance for practitioners and clinicians working with young clients suffering from these disorders and should be considered requisite reading.

J. Kevin Thompson received his doctoral training at the University of Georgia, where he obtained his PhD in 1982. He has been at the University of South Florida since 1985 and is a professor in the Department of Psychology. He has authored, coauthored, or edited three earlier books in the area of body image, eating disorders, and obesity (Body Image Disturbance: Assessment and Treatment, Pergamon Press, 1990; Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Obesity: An Integrative Guide for Assessment and Treatment, American Psychological Association, 1996; Exacting Beauty: Theory Assessment and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance, American Psychological Association, 1999). He has been on the editorial board of the International Journal of Eating Disorders since 1990, and joined the editorial board of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention in 2001.

Linda Smolak received her doctoral training at Temple University, where she obtained her PhD in 1980. She has been at Kenyon College since 1980, and is a professor in the Departments of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies. She has coedited two other books in the area of body image and eating disorders (The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders, Erlbaum, 1996; Eating Disorders: Innovations in Research and Practice, American Psychological Association, 2001), and is coauthoring a book on prevention of eating disorders (The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders: Theory, Research, and Practice, Erlbaum, in press). She is the author of numerous articles on the developmental psychopathology of eating disorders and has served as a consultant to the McKnight Risk Factor Study, the US. Office on Women's Health, and the Harvard Eating Disorders Center.